Ottawa's 10th year hosting the world's largest space hackathon. One weekend, real challenges, free to join.
Official local event of the NASA Space Apps Challenge
Developers. Designers. Engineers. Makers. Data people. Students still figuring out what they're good at, and hobbyists who already know. If you've ever stayed up too late chasing an idea, you'll feel at home here.
Pick from a global slate of challenges spanning software, data, design, and storytelling — pulled straight from NASA and Canadian Space Agency open data. Multidisciplinary by design: the strongest teams mix coders with designers, scientists with storytellers.
See the schedule →Get your hands on real hardware. Ottawa's own physical challenge, built with Carleton's space clubs — this year, tracking the sun to keep a lunar outpost powered.
See this year's challenge →Rovers landing on other planets and moons have to travel in small configurations to fit the landers that they are taken on. However, once landed, they need to be able to recharge their batteries through solar panels. Therefore, those panels need to be deployed after landing. The larger the solar panel, the faster the recharge! Your challenge is to make a small rover (rover “chassis” will be provided) and the solar panels that will need to be deployed on it. Your initial rover must fit within the lander dimensions (10 cm cubed). It must be able to:
Final designs will be judged on ability to leave the lander, initial solar panel deployment area, and final exposed solar panel area.
Pressure sensors, IR sensors, servos and small dc motors, and all building materials will be provided, as well as arduinos and motorshields.
Take on the Challenge at Space Apps Ottawa!
Register Free
Space Apps Ottawa has been bringing this community together for 10 years — organized locally, backed by the Canadian Space Society, and run almost entirely by the people who show up to build alongside you.
Meet the organizers →Work alongside developers, designers, and engineers who think the way you do — every discipline, one weekend, in the room or on Discord.
Turn an idea into something tangible in a single weekend — real data, real constraints, a real deadline.
Mentors and experts are on hand all weekend — onsite and from the Canadian Space Agency — so a hard problem doesn't become a dead end.
Two Ottawa projects advance into NASA's global judging every year. Yours could be next.
* All times are in EST.
Carleton's largest robotics group — over 100 members across every discipline, building a Mars rover each year for the University Rover Challenge: autonomy, spacecraft servicing, life detection, long-range traversal.
Student-led team building real satellites — designing, testing, and launching CubeSats while working mission design and systems integration alongside industry experts.
Student-run and open to everyone — Astronomy Nights, research talks, and community events that make the night sky, and the latest in space exploration, accessible to all Carleton students.